Miscellaneous

Update 377: Shareholders vs. Stakeholders?Cos. Pay Lip Service, but Not a Cent in Taxes Last week, the CEOs of the nation’s largest corporations signed a statement redefining “the purpose of a corporation.” Now, corporate management should serve not only the company’s owners, but other stakeholders (employees, customers, the public) as well. Any owner ever sued by …

Update 374: Worker Retirement Security:Multiemployer Pension Bill and Its Prospects The legislative prospects for any big-ticket economic policy bill that is not “must-pass” (such as a budget) clearing Congress and getting signed by the White House seem remote right now. But on July 24, the Rehabilitation for Multiemployer Pensions Act, H.R. 397, passed the House in a …

Update 372: Student Loan Debt Bill in Sight?Another Academic Year, Contact the Cashier The $1.6 trillion owed by tens of millions of students and their parents in total education loans outstanding ramifies throughout the economy. Already it means younger people aren’t getting married, entering the job market, starting businesses, saving for retirement as quickly or as …

Update 367 — Condition of the Labor Market:Minimum Wage, Other Workers Due a Raise Tomorrow morning, the U.S. House will vote on the first increase in the federal minimum wage since 2009. During that time, inflation has increased by 20 percent, an increase workers haven’t seen a penny of — in terms of wages. Conventional economic wisdom …

Update 355: Democrats and Rural America as Trump Gives Farmers Crumbs, not Cake Last week, the Trump administration announced a $16 billion aid package for farmers in an effort to bail out those affected by the continuing trade war with China. But the bailout sop may not be wooing rural Americans. Per Bill Gordon, vice-president …

Update 354: Nest Eggs Bills on the HillIs it Goose Eggs or Law after Floor Vote? A big-ticket bipartisan bill is blasting through Congress? Really? Or is this “Infrastructure Week” again? No, this is serious stuff and it’s about retirement. We look at the two leading proposals to address the dire underpreparedness of Americans for …

Update 351 — Class of 2020 Pres. Candidates:Making the Grade on Education Finance Policy Over the course of the last decade, a consensus has emerged among progressive policy makers that something serious must be done to address the costs of higher education, tuition and debt. 2020 candidates are weighing in, setting priorities and offering proposals. …

Update 349 — Today’s Leveraged Loan Market: Animal Spirits or 2020 Recessionary Canary? The leveraged loan market may not sound like a factor in the 2020 elections, but 18 months before the 2008 election, leverage was already off the dial, Wall Street was booming, and no one predicted the economic or electoral consequences. Odds that …

Update 344 — Will You be Able to Retire?Boomer vs. Millennial Takes on Senior Security The average age of baby boomers is 65 today. 10,000 boomers retire every day and thousands more reach the antediluvian retirement age of 65. Those who haven’t retired are generally unprepared for it financially. Among millennials and younger Americans, the …

Update 340: Middle Class Cash & Credit CrunchCase Studies, Problems and Policy Solutions The long-awaited, much discussed, often feared inversion of the yield curve — where long-term yields fall below short-term ones — occurred at about 1 pm ET this afternoon. As we have discussed, this is a widely recognized harbinger of recession, news that …